It would be nice for baseball to reward players (Bagwell, Biggio, Piazza) who played the game the right way by enshrining them, as their numbers are good enough. I hope Edgar Martinez makes it in eventually, as people may evaluate Frank Thomas in a similar fashion, although he spent a large portion of his career playing first base.

It would be nice for baseball to reward players (Bagwell, Biggio, Piazza) who played the game the right way by enshrining them, as their numbers are good enough. I hope Edgar Martinez makes it in eventually, as people may evaluate Frank Thomas in a similar fashion, although he spent a large portion of his career playing first base.

And you know those guys were clean how? The names that became public are just the tip of the iceburg.

The Bonds vote will be interesting. I don't expect Sosa to have much support, but there is the school of thought thta Bonds would have been worthy without the home runs.

I wouldn't vote for Bonds or Sosa or McGwire if I had a vote. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm of the belief that blatantly cheating to gain an advantage is egregrious enough to nullify the achievements.

It really isn't about numbers anyway. I'm guessing that there are people who will vote for Omar Vizquel in five years who won't vote for Barry Bonds this year.

Maybe players no one suspects of cheating were cheating, too. But there is a difference between voting for a someone who disgraced the game and someone whose actions would have disgraced the game if outed. I would like to think that Tim Raines was clean, of steroids anyway. Maybe Raines will get enough support for the Hall of Fame to put up another plaque featuring an Expos cap.

The first real test of the Steroid Era. Will be interesting to see how the voters respond, but I hope no one accused gets in.

Sosa and McGwire definitely won't. Sosa's lone MVP award is tainted by PED use, and McGwire's numbers aren't anything special outside of his home run totals.

The situation revolving around Bonds and Clemens is much more interesting, as both had numbers worthy of the HOF before their alleged PED use occurred. Whether the voters take this into account is something I can't predict.

It's something how the Hit King is banished for life and most people are fine with that and this new cheating bunch has a lot of people wanting to look the other way because they would have been in the hall before they took drugs. What if Pete got 3000 hits and bet on games after that. Where is the argument that 3000 hits gets you in (in that era) and he would have been eligible for his career when he wasn't betting on games?

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Bonds, Sosa and the rest of the juicers will eventually be inducted into the HOF. They might not live to see their inductions but I still think they will get in eventually. Historians have a way of reinventing history. If you would of said thirty years ago that Walter O'Malley and Ron "The Scab" Santo will be in the HOF most baseball fans would of laughed at you.

__________________It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. - A. Bartlett Giamatti